Films and DVDs


Posted: Thurs., Feb. 9, 2006, 10:00pm PT
'Da Vinci' shines on doc
By STEVEN ZEITCHIK
 
Sony's release in May of "The Da Vinci Code" is having a halo effect on an indie film project.

Producer Donald Zuckerman and director Jonathan Stack are attached to the doc "Secrets of The Code." The movie is partly based on the eponymous book by Da Vinci Code expert Dan Burstein.

Pic, which is shooting now and could be released during the Sony pic's theatrical run, will examine topics raised by the book and dissect its popularity on several continents. "All the television documentaries have been about the history. Ours is about the phenomenon," Burstein said.

Burstein, who is co-producing with Zuckerman, has made a cottage industry out of exploring the Dan Brown bestseller, producing another doc and authoring several books. He heads a team of "Code" researchers that includes Dave Shugarts, who recently signed on as exec consultant for the Mark Burnett Internet series "Gold Rush."

TV writer Jeff Swimmer is co-directing "Secrets of the Code" with Stack, and Richard Guardian of Lightning Entertainment, which handled foreign sales for "Junebug" and "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price," is selling foreign rights at the Berlin Film Festival. Zuckerman and Endeavor are repping Stateside.